What mental health treatment courts are available?
STAR (Support and Treatment After Release)
STAR (Support and Treatment After Release) Court is a post-sentencing treatment court. Participants must be found guilty by plea or trial and then are supervised by the STAR court team during their probationary period. The court imposes mental health probation conditions for support, treatment and services for participants.
CARE (Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment) Court
CARE (Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment) Court is a civil court process to help people who have a diagnosis in the schizophrenia spectrum or other psychotic disorder diagnosis receive care through county behavioral health services. This court will begin December 1, 2024 in Marin County.
What can friends and family do?
If someone has been involuntarily committed for psychiatric evaluation on a 5150 hold, the hospital can only hold them for 72 hours before releasing them or seeking another hold. If the person is not released after 72 hours and the hospital seeks a further hold under a 5250 hold, the patient will have the right to an administrative hearing and judicial reviewing, depending on the circumstances.
The Public Defender investigates and advocates only at the second, judicial level of appeal. If the patient desires a Writ of Habeas Corpus in Superior Court, the Patients’ Rights Advocate at the hospital will contact the Public Defender to conduct a review. Interested individuals should maintain good contact with the committed person to ensure that the Public Defender receives needed information for hearing.